How to Check and Fill Fluids 2007-14 Chevy Suburban
Created on: 2017-06-08
How to check and fill your under hood fluids, including the coolant, oil, and washer fluid on 09 Chevy Suburban.
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step 1 :Checking the Washer Fluid
- Pull off the washer fluid reservoir cap
- Fill the reservoir with washer fluid
- Snap on the washer fluid reservoir cap
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step 2 :Checking the Brake Fluid
- Twist the brake fluid reservoir cap off counterclockwise
- Check the brake fluid level, using a flashlight if necessary
- Check that the brake fluid is between the minimum and maximum lines
- Check that the brake fluid is clear
- If the brake fluid is murky or dark, drain and refill it
- Twist the brake fluid reservoir cap on clockwise
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step 3 :Checking the Power Steering
- Twist off the cap and check the level with a flashlight
- If the power steering fluid smells burnt, is murky or dark, drain and refill it
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step 4 :Checking the Coolant
- Wait for the engine to cool
- Twist the coolant reservoir cap off counterclockwise
- Check the coolant level, using a flashlight if necessary
- Add coolant to the reservoir up to the cold fill line
- Twist the coolant reservoir cap on tight clockwise
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step 5 :Checking the Oil
- Pull out the oil dipstick
- Clean off the oil dipstick
- Insert the oil dipstick
- Pull out the oil dipstick
- Check that the oil level is between the low and full marks
- Insert the oil dipstick
- Twist the oil fill cap off counterclockwise, to add oil
- Add oil as necessary
- Twist the oil cap on clockwise
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step 6 :Checking the Transmission Fluid
- Let the engine reach operating temperature
- Keeping a foot on the brake, engage each gear for a few seconds to cycle the transmission fluid fully
- Place the vehicle in park
- With the vehicle running, remove the transmission dipstick
- Reinstall and check that the fluid level is near the fill line
Tools needed
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Windshield Washer Fluid
Power Steering Fluid
Gloves
Brake Fluid
Anti-Freeze
Engine Oil
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First, you want to open the engine compartment or the hood. To do that, pull out the hood release lever. Then up underneath the hood, you pull the little lever on the hood latch to your right as you're looking at it. Then lift up the hood.
Under the hood, there are six fluids you can check—your washer fluid, your brake fluid, your power steering fluid, your engine coolant here, the dipstick for your oil fill as well as the oil fill itself, and then the dipstick and fill for your transmission.
Your washer fluid's the simplest one. Just pull this back and then fill it with fluid to capacity. Obviously you want to use a good quality washer fluid. You don't want it to freeze up during the wintertime.
To remove your brake fluid cap, you twist counterclockwise and this comes off, and on the side here you can see on each side it says MAX and MIN. Actually, this is a little bit overfull, but you want that filled up to that max arrow, and it can be as low as that MIN arrow, but I would have it somewhere in between. Again, good quality DOT 3 brake fluid.
The power steering fluid right down here, and it’s pretty easy to check. Turn it counter-clockwise, pull it up and out. It has a little dipstick. You wipe it off with a cloth, back in, put it down in, then bring it out, and you want it up to this line on your dipstick. It does say here full cold, so when it's cold you want it up there. If it's warm, it's probably going to be a little bit above. You'll then lock it back in place once it's full.
Here's your tank for your radiator or coolant. Right now, ours is warm so I'm not going to open the cap, but you would turn the cap counterclockwise. This is FULL cold, this line here, so if your vehicle's warm, you want to see it a bit above that line. When it's cold, then you can remove the cap, add the correct specification coolant to the system. If you ever drain your system or do work on it, basically you would want to fill the system as much as you can, run it for a little while, and check it the first few times that you use the vehicle.
For the oil, check it, pull the dipstick out, have a paper towel or something handy. Pull it right out and the first time you're just going to wipe it off, clean the dipstick off. You can see that there's an area here of crosshatches. That is where you want the oil level to be. Put the dipstick back in, push it down in fully, and pull it back out. You need to check usually both sides. Actually ours is right up here basically right between those two dimples, so that's perfect. Anywhere below you'd want to add some. Basically if it was all the way down to the bottom a quart usually brings it up to the top. Put the dipstick back in. To add oil, turn counter-clockwise, pull up and out. Use a funnel to add your oil, SAE 5W30 is correct. Then once you add oil, put that and turn it firmly to lock it back in place.
Check the transmission fluid. You'd want to do it with the engine running and in park. Unlock the dipstick, pull it up and out, wipe it off with a cloth or a paper towel. Make sure it's clean. You can see that there's actually a full hot and a full cold, so on this vehicle, it allows you to check it while the transmission's still cold or while it's hot, so just keep that in mind. Our vehicle is warm, although it's not running right now. We're just doing this to show you. Put the dipstick in, pull it back out, and it's going to read very high because we don't have the vehicle running. But when the vehicle's running you would want to see the fluid level right in here if it's hot or in here if it's cold. Then to fill it, you'd use a small funnel, put the funnel right there, and add transmission fluid right through that dipstick tube. Once you have the level all set, put it back in and lock it in place.
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